Building partnerships to transform violence and oppression.

CPT INTERNATIONAL: Sarah Thompson appointed CPT Executive Director

December 17th, 2013
in:

CPT INTERNATIONAL: Sarah Thompson appointed CPT Executive Director
17 December 2013

Christian Peacemaker Teams is pleased to announce the appointment of Sarah Thompson to the position of CPT Executive Director, starting in January 2014.

Thompson brings a wide range of experiences to the position. Through her work in the international peace movement as a public-speaker and community organizer, she is adept at bringing people together across lines of difference and building momentum for positive social change. Her Christian church involvements include six years of volunteer work as the North American representative to Mennonite World Conference's Youth and Young Adult Executive Committee and Global Youth Summit planning group, as well as service with Mennonite Central Committee in Jerusalem, Washington, D.C. Advocacy office, and in her hometown of Elkhart, Indiana, United States.

Thompson has traveled across various continents through activist and volunteer work with feminist anti-war movements, Spanish translation opportunities, the Fulbright Scholarship, and Spelman College (graduated summa cum laude in 2006 with a Comparative Women's Studies & International Studies double major, and a minor in Spanish).

A 2011 Masters of Divinity graduate of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Thompson writes, “I am thrilled and humbled to participate with CPT in this capacity. I feel called to the spiritual practice of building partnerships that transform violence and oppression. I am grateful to all who have gone before me to make this organization a place where I can use my gifts, bring my questions, encounter challenges, and rely on support from allies and colleagues.”

Thompson recalls, “I first learned about CPT's edgy peacemaking programs and analysis of structural oppression when I was in Peace Club at Bethany Christian High School in Goshen, Indiana (1999-2002). After attending the CPT Peacemaker Congress my sophomore year, I knew that CPT would be a part of my future.  I was thinking more along the lines of when I retired, but was delighted to have been invited to participate sooner.”

Outgoing Director Carol Rose says, “This is going to be great! We are beginning a really exciting period in CPT’s history.  I am confident to hand over leadership to Sarah who is creative, capable, and caring. Her activism grounded in deep faith, coupled with her brilliant thinking, brings a dynamism that will help keep CPT moving with joy and partnering powerfully.”

Thompson served as a member of CPT’s Steering Committee (2010-2012) and has worked for the past year as CPT’s Outreach Coordinator. “I am very grateful for these opportunities,” she says. “Like my previous work with grassroots, political, and social-justice organization, working through CPT has been a deeply formative and positive experience for me.” The focus of the Executive Director role will be on strategic directions for organizational development, undoing oppressions, and fund- and friend-raising.

To introduce yourself to Sarah, and/or to schedule her for a speaking engagement or fundraising event for CPT, please contact her at director@cpt.org. In light of this good news, please share this announcement widely, and click here to make a gift in support of Sarah as she begins as Executive Director.

Upcoming CPT Events

Title Start: End:
U.S./ Mexico Borderlands Delegation Tue, 02/18/2014 Fri, 02/28/2014
Palestine/Israel Delegation Wed, 03/05/2014 Tue, 03/18/2014
Steering Committee Face-to-Face Meeting Wed, 03/19/2014 Sat, 03/22/2014
Colombia National Delegation Sat, 04/12/2014 Sat, 04/19/2014
Aboriginal Justice Delegation Fri, 05/02/2014 Mon, 05/12/2014
more

Video Introduction to Christian Peacemaker Teams

 

Want a copy? Email chicago.office.vol@cpt.org and consider making a donation to cover reproduction costs.

About CPT

Partnering with nonviolent movements around the world, CPT seeks to embody an inclusive, ecumenical and diverse community of God's love.  We believe we can transform war and occupation, our own lives, and the wider Christian world through:

  • the nonviolent power of God's truth
  • partnership with local peacemakers
  • bold action

CPT places teams at the invitation of local peacemaking communities that are confronting situations of lethal conflict.  These teams seek to follow God's Spirit as it works through local peacemakers who risk injury and death by waging nonviolent direct action to confront systems of violence and oppression. 

CPT understands violence to be rooted in systemic structures of oppression. We are committed to undoing oppressions, starting within our own lives and in the practices of our organization.

Featured CPT Partner

IRAQ / KURDISTAN: Kani Spi Village, Iraq/Iran border

Kani Spi (“White Spring”) village sits next to a mine field on the Iraq/Iran border. Villagers live every day in a death trap, caught between the beauty of nature and the military violence of past and current governments.

Mr. Mahmud has been fighting to restore the beautiful countryside for decades by removing the mines, at a steep price: the loss of one brother, one son, and his leg. Now Turkey and Iran are conducting heavy bombardments in the region, forcing people to move and abandon their way of life.

The United States shares intelligence with Turkey to help Turkey and Iran combat Kurdish political groups. But often those attacks are on civilian villages. Mr. Mahmud wants the three countries to stop their military actions so he can clear the landmines from the field.

CPT’s Work: CPT accompanies villages like Kani Spi, documenting their experience, and advocating with decision-makers for a cease to state-sponsored violence and bombing.